1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to an oriented electrically conductive polypyrrole article and a process for production thereof.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Organic polymeric compounds are generally classified as insulators. It has been found however that by adding certain kinds of compounds, they become electrically conductive and can be used as semiconductors or conductors. It has been found that these electrically conductive polymers become p- or n-type semiconductors or conductors depending upon the kind of the additives, and can find applications in electronic materials and electrical cells or batteries. In general, such organic polymeric compounds as polyacetylene, polyphenylene sulfide and poly-p-phenylene are unstable, and this disadvantage limits their practical applications.
Polypyrrole is a noteworthy electrically conductive polymer because of its relatively high electrical conductivity and high stability in air. It is known that polypyrrole is obtained as an insoluble, infusible film-like polymer by an electrolytic oxidizing method (A. F. Diaz and K. K. Kanazawa, J. C. S. Chem. Comm., 1979, 635) in which platinum or gold is used as an anode and the film-like polymer is deposited on the anode surface. The polypyrrole film so obtained does not have sufficiently high electric conductivity.